US embassy cable - 04OTTAWA3347

C O N F I D E N T I A L OTTAWA 003347 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/13/2014 
TAGS: AORC, PARM, CA, IAEA 
SUBJECT: OPPOSING A THIRD TERM FOR IAEA DIRECTOR GENERAL 
ELBARADEI 
 
REF: SECSTATE 264699 
 
Classified By: POL M/C BRIAN FLORA.  REASON 1.4 (B) AND (D). 
 
1. (C) In response to ref demarche, Foreign Affairs Canada 
Deputy Director for nuclear non-proliferation Terry Wood 
re-affirmed to polmiloff that Canada shares USG's view on 
limiting the term of the IAEA Director General to two years. 
At the same time, Wood said, the next DG must be someone who 
enjoys the general support and full confidence of the 
membership; a "protracted and messy" process to bring in El 
Baradei's successor would not be good for the institution. 
Asked if Canada had a successor candidate in mind, Wood 
replied in the negative. 
 
2. (C) Wood noted that in a one-on-one meeting with DG El 
Baradei on November 18th, FAC Global and Security Affairs 
Assistant Deputy Minister Jim Wright encouraged the DG to "do 
the right thing" and not/not stand for a third term.  El 
Baradei reportedly told Wright that there were a lot of 
things he could do (for the institution).   He said he had 
not sought out a third term; rather, other member states 
wanted him to do this.  Moreover, the DG also said he had not 
seen an "unequivocal" response from the U.S. opposing his 
third term.  The DG felt his support among members was strong 
enough that he would be able to defeat any other candidate. 
 
3. (C) Wood said that Canada was mindful of the USG request 
for a response by December 15; the Canadian 
governmentnonetheless would continue discussing the issue 
over the next week.  He noted that instructions were sent to 
the  Canadian Embassy in Washington on Friday to engage 
Department contacts (NFI) on this topic.  Ottawa was keen to 
hear USG's proposed strategy.  Wood felt that Step One should 
be to open up the position but getting the requisite 12 votes 
to do so would not be easy, and at this particular time the 
odds did not favor "us."  Once El Baradei was "eased out" of 
the way, he concluded, it would be much easier to locate a 
suitable successor candidate. 
 
Visit Canada's Classified Web Site at 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/wha/ottawa 
 
CELLUCCI